Phuketwan News Analysis/Opinion
IT MAY BE that in talks to come this week, a solution can be found to the present issue of tuk-tuks in Karon and Kata and their relationship with resorts and tour companies.
From the point of view of the drivers, that will involve the resorts and the tour companies building the local tuk-tuk business model into future strategies.
However, it makes more sense for the tuk-tuk business model to evolve and develop into a plan that fits with modern thinking and Phuket's future as a major international tourist destination.
In Karon and Kata at least, the leaders of the tuk-tuks recognise the need for change and have made serious efforts to improve standards of service, and even to reduce prices.
Faced with the 21st century, though, a model where jobs are created and maintained to suit the needs of one small group within a much broader network are doomed to failure.
For years now, the tuk-tuk business around the island has expanded, with an increasing number of drivers employed in the industry.
This is an extention of the village, a reflection of the days when Phuket consisted of a series of small communities. As roads came to the island, the need for connecting the villages sustained the local taxis.
People must have suggested at various times that buses would be more efficient and serve the communities better. But the tuk-tuks have survived, and prospered.
This is largely because of the monopoly they hold on travel between point A and point B across most of the island. The low-cost and efficient seung tao services in Phuket City and to many other points on the island show the potential benefits of a proper public transport system.
There is also a huge network of independent bus services, run by resorts all over the island, created out of necessity, to transport staff in the absence of an efficient public transport system.
As an alternative during the day, and especially after dark, the tuk-tuks remain virtually the only choice.
This is particularly so along the popular west coast beaches, the one-time villages that have now grown and are in the process of expanding to become a single large coastal community.
The village is a great working model for health and education services, social networking and many other issues. But does it work effectively with transport, especially if excessively high prices actually alienate the customers that Phuket needs?
A more enchanting tuk-tuk service, sweet and old-fashioned, and at old-fashioned prices, should add appeal for tourists, just as it does in Bangkok and other destinations around the country.
In Phuket, tuk-tuks are a universal turn-off. We have yet to encounter a tourist, Thai or foreign, who has a kind word to say about Phuket tuk-tuks. The Tourism Authority of Thailand records hundreds of complaints about them, year in, year out.
And in tough times, when big-brand resort chains lower prices and increase marketing around the globe, when destinations everwhere compete more intensely for business, the tuk-tuk drivers make few concessions.
Wouldn't it make more sense for the resorts, the tour operators and the local authorities to work with the tuk-tuk drivers to come up with a complete transport strategy for Phuket's future?
We believe that time has come. If alternative training and suitable jobs could be found for 150 tuk-tuk drivers each year, Phuket's long-term transport needs could be properly met, and quite soon.
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Meters.. Whats so complex ??
I would argue that a open air noddy van should be a lower meter rate than a air co enclosed car.
Set the meter rate.. And everyone pays it.. If the profession under pays then less people will desire to work in it. The only reason theres so damn many of them is they make so much by enforcing their cartel. Plus a certain element joins so they can get off on the bully boy / gang mentality so many of them like to put on.
Posted by LivinLOS on December 13, 2009 09:36